Leaching is the most important step of josephinite tailing recycle technology. This step can separate the valuable metal Mg from Si and other impure metal. Effects of sulfuric acid on leaching Mg efficiency from josephinite tailings were investigated. To obtain the leaching behavior, a modified unreacted shrinking core model that based on the experimental data was used to determine the dissolution kinetic parameters. The model was significant and showed that the dissolution of Mg2+ in josephinite tailing was controlled by the produce layer diffusion, apparent activation reaction energy E = 34.04 kJ x mol(-1). The produce layers obstruct the forward reaction of the dissolution of Mg2+.